by Eric Meyer
“Mr. Zardooz, why are you here so late at night?”
“I have work to catch up with in my office. Open the barrier.”
“Do you have authorization from the Director? This is very unusual.”
Talley could see the Iranian shaking like a leaf. He must have been convinced he was only inches away from a police dungeon and a very messy, painful death.
“No, I do not. This is urgent, open the gate, man. I don’t have time for this.”
“Please wait. I will check with the Chief Security Officer.”
We don’t have time for this shit. He makes that call and we’re finished.
As he walked to the phone, Talley opened the door and jumped down. The man turned at the sound and received a double tap to the head from the Sig. Talley ran to him, lowered the body gently to the ground, and dragged him inside the guardhouse. Another guard walked into the room from somewhere out back, probably the bathroom. His eyes opened wide when he saw the stranger, and he grabbed for his pistol. Talley’s Sig coughed twice, and he went down. He whirled as someone came up behind him, but it was only Anika. She frowned as she saw the bodies.
“Christ, the shit will hit the fan now.”
“Open that barrier while I drag the bodies out of sight. We have to move fast, real fast.”
He pulled the dead soldiers one by one into the small bathroom and closed the door. Then he ran back out to the truck. The barrier was open, and Anika stood next to it. He drove through. She closed it, and they drove through the complex. It only took a couple of minutes before they reached the rear gate. A red light showed ominously on the wall over the portal.
“Damn, it’s alarmed,” she said.
“Too bad. Let’s get it open and let the men in. We have to locate those emails.”
He opened the four massive bolts and turned the lever of the lock mechanism. As the door opened, the whole complex came alive with the sound of an alarm siren, an urgent, repetitive wail that echoed around the facility. The troopers ran inside and fanned out in a defensive position. He searched for Buchmann.
“Heinrich, we need to make this look like a terrorist operation. Try to locate some likely targets and wire them for demolition. I reckon we have five minutes, maybe ten, before they send in troops, so make it fast.”
The German nodded and ran toward a building that looked as if it housed some kind of a power station, or maybe a cooling plant. Guy was behind him, holding onto the terrified Zardooz.
“Javeed, take us to your computer. How far away is it?”
“The next building, just past that one,” he pointed. “But it’s useless, they’ll send in the Revolutionary Guard, and we’ll be surrounded. We’re going to die!”
“No, we’re not. We’ve done this before, so help us out, and we’ll get you out safe. Hurry it up, man. Domenico, me and Guy will go with Javeed. Prepare to receive Iranian reinforcements. We may have to fight our way out of here.”
“Copy that.”
“Anika, take one of the troopers and guard our truck. If we lose that, we’ll be stuck here.”
She nodded her understanding, and they sped toward Javeed’s office building. The door was locked. Guy fired two shots from his HK 416, shattering the glass door, and they ran in. The Iranian pointed to the stairs, and they ran up, following him into his office. He turned with a wild expression on his face.
“My computer, it’s locked down at night. I forgot, it cannot be accessed,” he shouted. “It’s hopeless. We have to leave before they come.”
“Why didn’t you tell us before?” Talley asked.
“I’ve never been here at night. They told us about barring access after hours, but I forgot about it. We have to leave!”
Talley ignored him and examined the computer. It was a straightforward PC unit, linked to a network via cables in the back. He could see the panel of the hard drive fixed in the front of the case, which was anchored to the desk with a locked, heavy, steel security band.
“Guy, take the whole unit. Blast that lock off.”
“Sure, but won’t they see it’s missing and wonder?”
“Not when we’re finished, no.” He keyed his mike. “This is Echo One. Buchmann, do you copy?”
“Ja, Buchmann here.”
“We’re in the office building. It’s right next to where you planted your first charges. I want it to explode, and I mean a real, big explosion. Something that’ll destroy everything inside.”
“I can set a thermite incendiary charge. It’ll torch the entire building.”
“Do it fast, Heinrich.” He checked his wristwatch. “I want you back at the gate in three minutes, no more.”
“Copy that.”
They ran down the stairs and out of the building. Buchmann was heading toward them with Roy Reynolds helping him out, carrying a heavy pack of explosives.
“Make it quick, we’re almost out of time.”
They nodded as they sped into the building. Talley went back to the rear gate, noting with approval his men manning a defensive perimeter fifty meters from the exit. Then he heard the engines; trucks, possibly APCs, coming through the front gates.
“Anika, start the engine, and be ready to move out of here. Men, prepare for incoming fire. Vince, Jerry, see if you can hit them before they get near. Virgil, set up the M249 to cover our right flank. We may need it.”
“Copy that.”
“Valois, set up the other Minimi, and cover our left flank. Guy, take another man and get outside and cover our retreat. Make sure no one tries to sneak in behind us.”
“Got it.”
He watched for the enemy, but there was still no sign of them. Then the first of Buchmann’s charges went off, and the entire complex went dark, security lights, street lamps, internal lights, everything. It was early. It was supposed to go off after they left.
Still, it could prove useful. Pity we didn’t brought the NV gear.
Buchmann came running up out of the darkness.
“I have set the rest of the charges, but we need to be well clear before they detonate. It’ll be a large explosion.”
“Yeah, okay. Get to the truck. Guy’s out there, help him cover our rear. Make sure we’re set to go. We’re pulling out in less than a minute.”
“Jawohl, Herr Leutnant. The charges will explode in five minutes.”
“Understood, now go.”
He hurried off. Talley keyed his mike.
“Okay, everyone, we’ve got a big bang happening in less than five. Start pulling back out of the gate.”
He saw chips of concrete ripped out the side of a building, as a stream of bullets smashed past Virgil’s position. He opened his mouth to shout orders, but a dozen assault rifles opened up, and Virgil was punched back as some of the rounds hit him.
Did his vest take the impact? Dear Christ, I hope so. But the Minimi is out of action.
He ran forward and picked up the weapon, conscious that he was the only member of the unit not wearing armor, but they needed the firepower. He could see Virgil moving.
Thank Christ? His vest stopped the bullets.
“Open fire! We have hostiles coming in from the north.”
He sighted on a bunch of Iranian militia rushing toward him and firing on the run. He pulled the trigger of the Minimi. The 5.56mm rounds poured out of the barrel, and he kept the trigger pressed down, spraying rounds every which way. In the light of the muzzle flashes, he saw six Iranians go down. The rest scuttled into cover.
“Vince, Jerry, try and locate those shooters on your side.”
“We’re on it. Jerry took off after a couple of squirters who broke away from that unit. They’re working their way around our flank, and he’s trying to hit them before they get any nearer.”
“Copy that. Make it snappy. There’s going to be one great mother of a bang in a couple of minutes. Take your last shots and get out. That’s an order. Jerry, do you copy?”
“I copy you. I’m tracking them now. Just a minute, wait.” Ta
lley heard the sound of suppressed shots. “That’s one definite kill. The other one dived for cover, but I hit him in the leg as he went. I can…”
“Get out of there, Jerry, right now. And the rest of you, that building is gonna go up like a volcano in one minute. The explosion will take out the hostiles, so get yourselves out of there.”
“On the way.”
He looked around and saw the last of his men disappearing through the narrow gate.
Good, it's time to leave.
He picked up the Minimi and ran. He almost made it when more rifle fire slashed through the night, cutting him off from the exit. He dived for cover; aware that a single hit on his unprotected body could be fatal. He searched for the source of the incoming fire and saw the muzzle flashes of at least three assault rifles as they spewed bullets all around him. He checked his wristwatch. He had thirty seconds at most before the thermite charges went off and turned the area into a raging holocaust. He pulled the trigger and emptied the clip towards the shooters.
I hope it's enough. It has to be.
He leapt to his feet and started to run. Only ten paces until he was through the gate, and then one of the Iranian militiamen loomed around the corner. He smiled as he raised his rifle, and Talley knew he couldn’t make it, couldn’t beat the blast. He kept running. The building erupted as the explosion of the thermite charges ripped through it. Talley saw the walls literally bulge and begin to collapse, but it was a fleeting glimpse. The blast wave took him, hurling him through the open gate, and the breath whooshed out of his body as he slammed onto the hard tarmac; right next to Vince and Jerry, who’d been about to start back to cover him.
“You okay, Boss?” Vince asked him. “That was a spectacular exit.”
Talley groaned as he picked himself up, feeling as if he’d fought ten rounds with Mike Tyson. “Yeah, I’ll be fine. It’s time to get out of here, let’s go. What happened to…”
He stumbled as his brain refused to connect with his legs. Vince caught him and dragged him to the minivan and threw him inside. Immediately, the vehicle started moving. As they drove away, he could see the flames licking out from the destruction they’d left behind them.
“Jesus Christ,” someone murmured. “When they find who did this, they’ll come after us with everything they’ve got.”
“They won’t blame us,” Guy murmured softly. “I was talking to Anika while we waited. She got MI6 Tehran Station to feed a rumor into the networks, some nonsense about an Israeli sponsored raid to undercut the Iranian nuclear program.”
Someone laughed, “Poor bloody Israelis. They always get the blame.”
“Yes, they do,” he said soberly, “but we had to hit these bastards. Don’t worry about the Israelis, they’ve been taking it for more than two thousand years. They’re used to it.”
Talley heard the bitter note in Guy’s voice. It was understandable, coming from a man with the blood of refugees from Nazi Germany in his veins. But it was also true. It was way past time for the talking to stop, and for someone to start hitting the Iranians nuclear ambitions. He’d no idea where they were headed, and every bone in his body hurt. He was content for someone else to make the decisions. When they eventually did come to a stop, he looked out at an odd looking building. It took him a few moments to realize it was an ancient castle or palace of some kind. They’d driven inside what had probably once been the main hall. He climbed out and was checking out the surroundings when Anika came around to the rear of the vehicle.
“What’s this? Where are we?”
“It’s an archaeological site, an ancient palace built by Cambyses II. He was a distant relation of Darius the Great and also a relation of Cyrus the Great. We’re just on the edge of the Sohanak Park. I was involved with this excavation last year. We pulled out when they withdrew the funding, so I knew it was empty. We can stay here until we’re ready to move on.”
“How far are we from the other dig at Niavaran?”
“No more than ten kilometers. I’ll get on to my boss, Jeff Petersen. We’ll need his help. The first priority is to get rid of this truck. There’ll be an APB out for it all over Iran. The second is to get hold of a laptop computer that can decrypt and read the drive inside the computer we took from the AEOI. Jeff can arrange both those things for us, unless you’d prefer to use CIA.”
“No, contact Petersen and see what he can do.”
She nodded. They were on their own while the rest of the unit checked out the area. Abruptly, she leaned forward and gave him a long, lingering kiss.
“What was that for?”
She stared into his eyes. “For keeping us all safe, Abe.”
He grinned, embarrassed. “I’d save it for later. We have a long way to go. We’re not out of the woods yet.”
“We’ll get there. I know that. You’ll get us there, Abe.”
He felt his face was glowing red. “You’d better make contact with Petersen before I do something I regret.”
She gave him a meaningful glance. “Maybe another time?”
“Out!”
She left to contact her boss. They had to decrypt that hard-won data, and pray it would take them nearer to their target, Arash.
Chapter Six
Guy posted sentries and sited the Minimis to provide a withering crossfire if any hostiles tried to come at them. They had to take every precaution. They were twenty klicks from the center of Tehran, capital of Iran, home of one of the cruelest, most tyrannical regimes in the world. A regime that even now would be doing everything in its power to hunt them down and kill them. They were the enemy, to be obliterated on sight. So far, they’d achieved little more than stir up a hornet’s nest. Arash, the shadowy figure behind the plan to buy in Pakistani nukes, was still not located. They had a lot of ground to cover, and the clock was ticking. Everything depended on what lay on the hard drive they’d brought out from the Javeed’s office. If it led nowhere, Talley would need an alternative plan, plan B. The trouble was, he hadn’t got a plan B. He knew he was stumbling along, being driven by events rather than pursuing a tightly drawn operational plan.
Echo Six had hit trouble almost from the word go. The troops they’d encountered on the way in, the search of the dig that coincided with their arrival, and the arrest of Guy’s squad when they went into the old cinema in Tehran. The only part of the operation that had gone to plan was locating Javeed Zardooz and retrieving his computer, and that had been as a result of intelligence Anika had uncovered, nothing to do with CIA or even the Brit Head of Station, Petersen. He cursed the absence of their own NATO field based intelligence and their reliance on the facilities of member nations. Despite the term ‘alliance’ in the acronym NATO, many of the countries saw themselves in anything but an alliance with the other member countries. It was every man for himself. He looked up and saw Anika coming toward him.
“Jeffrey Petersen is on the way here. He’s arranged more transport for us. He said to find somewhere around here where we can lose the truck. The whole of Tehran is hunting for it.”
“I’ll see to it.”
She nodded. “I’ll be back in a few minutes.”
He called Rovere. “Dom, find somewhere to stash that truck, and ask Heinrich to set a charge to tumble some rocks over it.”
“Right away.”
Anika returned shortly after with a steaming, hot mug of tea. He nodded his appreciation.
“Thanks. I need to make sure the men have…”
“Already done, Abe. Guy gave me a hand, and we brewed up enough for everyone. It’s been a long night. There are a few things here from when we were excavating the site, plenty of tea, powdered milk, and sugar, as well as bottled water. We expected to be back when the funding kicked in, but it never did.”
“You enjoy the archaeology, or do you prefer your day job?” He looked at her keenly.
She's like a chameleon. Archaeologist one moment, MI6 spy the next. Who is the real Doctor Anika Frost?
“I’m not much of a spy,”
she said thoughtfully. “I see the kinds of nasty tricks people play on each other, and it’s really not me. I’d be more than happy to spend all my time in places like this.”
“So why don’t you?”
She grinned. “One word. Money. We rely on charitable grants, and when they’re not forthcoming, the work comes to a stop. Remember, that’s the reason Professor Wenstrom agreed to help you out.”
“Yeah, it’s hard to know whose side he’s on. I don’t think he has much time for our Western values. I get the impression he prefers the life in Sandland.”
“Only because it’s a chance for him to make a name for himself. People like him, they think of themselves first, last, and all times in between.”
“What about Miles Preston?”
She grimaced. “He’s like Wenstrom on steroids.”
“That bad, eh?”
“You’ll find out, sooner or later.”
They looked up as a vehicle, a battered truck with a high canvas covered back, drove into the courtyard area. Talley recognized it as a Naynava, the Iranian built troop transport and well known to NATO. He tensed. As far as he knew, they were used exclusively by the military. In the driving seat was a stranger, and even though it was still not quite dawn, it was obviously an Iranian. Before he could issue orders, the unit scattered, and Talley and Anika were alone; both in civilian clothes, they could pass as researchers. In his case, only just. The truck came to a stop, and the driver stayed in his seat.
What's he waiting for? Is the truck full of troops hidden in the back?
“Echo One to Echo Two. Guy, do you have him covered?”
“Both machine guns, Boss. Anything happens I don’t like, and that truck gets blasted.”
“Copy that.”
The first fingers of dawn were creeping across the desert as the early sun began to appear over the horizon, chasing away the shadows. He could see the driver of the truck better now.